Jennifer Lopez’s performance American Music Awards 2011

The American Music Awards lack the gravitas of the Grammys and the edgy absurdity of the MTV Video Music Awards. They’re your middle of the road, not terribly important, let’s-chuck-this-on-TV-right-before-Thanksgiving awards show.

But this year’s ceremony, broadcast from L.A. on Sunday night, managed to deliver a handful of bizarre sights, enough to keep us almost mildly interested while we flipped back and forth between the AMAs and the ”Walking Dead.” Almost.

Here are the five weirdest moments from the decidedly bloated three-hour event.

The show’s opening performance teamed Minaj with David Guetta and a set design dominated by speaker imagery. In keeping with that motif, Minaj wore a speaker-themed outfit, complete with faux amplification on her chest and each of her butt cheeks. Call me crazy, but I really can’t see this look going mainstream, even if every office in America institutes Casual, Butt Speaker-Wearing Fridays.

Jennifer Lopez’s performance/Fiat commercial , J. Lo’s rendition of “Papi” essentially recreated her Fiat commercial, even going so far as to bring an actual Fiat onstage to serve as a backdrop while Lopez stripped down to a nude body suit with sparkles that covered all the necessary areas. Personally, I found the gratuitous promotion of Fiat far more offensive than the pseudo-nudity. And I was not alone.